The present invention relates generally to toys and games for amusement and education and, more particularly, to such games having a plurality of individual block elements which may be arranged cooperatively into various orientations.
Previously known toys include geometric solids or frame and hollow members suitable for use as block elements which may be arranged into adjacent, stacked, or spaced orientations. Such toys often include inclined surfaces or passageways therein over or through which a movable object, such as a small ball or marble, may freely roll. However, mere inclined surfaces do not usually provide adequate guidance to assure that the marble will travel along a predeterminable path. Blocks having passageways or U-channels therethrough may provide this guidance but are not typically inclined sufficiently to permit significant gravitational impetus to provide marble motion without the use of additional elevating means. Further, prior toy blocks having U-channels therein often do not permit that channel to extend completely through the block from side to side, thus limiting the travel of the marble.
If a plurality of such toy blocks are to be arranged together so as to form an extended path for marble motion from block to block in a game apparatus, prior devices have often employed closed conduits, complicated block interconnections, and non-integral vertical elevation assemblies. Closed conduits, whether integrally formed with the block or assembled therein, are relatively expensive to fabricate and may become clogged, especially when used improperly by small children. Likewise, block interconnections and elevation assemblies are expensive to fabricate, restrict use by younger children, and limit the variety of orientations available for such blocks.
Game apparatus are also known wherein a plurality of toy blocks containing passageways may be strategically reoriented during the course of play such that the path length of marble travel changes. However, such apparatus typically restrict block reorientation to a single horizontal or vertical plane and permit ball motion only between adjacent block passageways on the same plane of ball motion.
Thus, the need has arisen for a toy block and game apparatus which retains the advantages of prior art devices and overcomes their deficiencies and limitations to permit a variety of new and improved uses.